Room Enough
by Shinigami's Death Angel
Summary: Nightwing returns home to help sort out the relationship between his two younger brothers.


A/N: It may sound a bit awkward, but I did my best -shifty smile- I am absolutely in love with Dick Grayson, and thus love Nightwing to pieces, but I've never worked with this kind of character dynamic so it may come off as choppy, I apologize if it does. I tried.

**Room Enough**

"I'm home!" Dick called out, closing the manor's large front door behind him. Looking around the neat yet deserted entry hall, Dick wondered where everyone had gotten to, as not even Alfred was there to greet him. Setting his messenger bag down by the door, Dick slowly walked into the manor, hand reaching into his pocket for a spare smoke pellet he always kept on him.

"Dick!" An excited voice suddenly came from the second floor landing, causing Dick to look up just in time to reach his arms out to catch the blur falling straight towards him. "You're here! Alfred! Dick's here!" The bundle wiggling excitedly in Dick's arms called towards the second floor railing, where an older man with graying hair and a prim mustache appeared.

"Master Timothy, how many times have I told you not to take flying leaps off the stairs?" Alfred asked exasperatedly before turning to Dick. "Good to see you again, Master Richard. I trust Master Bruce has told you that he's currently away in Asia?"

"Yeah, he called me to come over and help out with these little rascals." Dick replied, flipping his armload over so that he could tickle the squirming child in his arms.

"Hm, just as well. An old man like me dealing with two youngsters," Alfred shook his head before disappearing from view.

"I take it Damian's a handful?" Dick asked thoughtfully, leaning forward a bit as Tim started crawling up his oldest brother's shoulders.

"He's a brat." Tim replied simply as he situated himself comfortably on Dick's shoulders.

"Well that's astute, and aren't you getting a bit old to be climbing all over me?" Dick reached up to steady the young superhero in training.

"Nope." Tim replied happily, leaning over to give his brother an upside down grin.

"Luckily you're small for your age." Dick laughed as Alfred came down the stairs, a boy a few years younger than Tim trailing quietly behind him. "Hey Damian," Dick smiled at the youngest Wayne, only to get a grumpy glare in return before the child stomped off to the lounge. "Talkative as ever, I see." Dick watched the boy's retreating back with a slight frown.

"Told you he's a brat." Tim stuck his tongue out at his younger brother's retreating back, earning a light slap on the leg from Dick.

"Master Damian is simply…troubled." Alfred tried to defend his youngest charge as he led the way into the kitchen.

"Jason was troubled. Damian's just plain moody." Dick corrected, lifting Tim off his shoulders and setting him down on a stool before moving towards the refrigerator.

"He's full of himself, has this mightier than thou princely attitude about him. The cocky little-" Tim cut himself off at the looks he was receiving from both older men. "Well, it's true." He raised his hands in defense.

"Needless to say, young Timothy does not get along very well with Master Bruce's son." Alfred stated, putting on an apron to start dinner.

"Damian's not Bruce's only son, Alfred." Tim replied, a bit too hotly in Dick's opinion. Noticing the surly expression on his favorite brother's face, Dick made a mental note to talk to him about it later that night.

"No, of course not. I did not mean to imply that-" Alfred, for the first time in Dick's life, seemed at a loss for words.

"Of course not. Alfred knows that we're all equal in this house." Dick smoothly slotted himself back into the conversation, placing some ingredients from the fridge out on the counter for Alfred.

The aging butler sent Bludhaven's superhero a thankful look before going about preparing the ingredients. Dick nodded in return and took up a knife and cutting board, starting to chop the vegetables and beef up for the stew. For several minutes the kitchen was silent as Dick and Alfred worked together in companionable silence with Tim leaning against the island's countertop, the clacking of knives on wood the only sound in the room.

"I really don't like that kid." Tim mumbled into his arm, looking away from the other two as they looked up in unison.

Dinner after that turned out to be a fairly quiet affair as the three brothers and Alfred sat around the dining room table, conversation a bit strained by the black hole of silence that was Damian. Even so, Dick and Tim managed to keep up a constant stream of commentary on their lives and random stuff happening in the world.

After a dessert of cherry pie (a not so secret infatuation shared by the entire manor's inhabitants) and helping Alfred clear the table, Dick retrieved his bag from the entry hall and turned to the younger two Waynes. Tim was bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet while Damian stood beside him, arms crossed and cool demeanor in place.

"You boys ready?" Dick grinned.

* * *

><p>Pulling on the comfortable second skin of Nightwing and situating the black mask over his eyes, Dick felt the adrenaline rush start to pump through his body. It'd been a while since he'd done a nightly patrol of Gotham. Turning back to his younger brothers, Nightwing had to cover his laugh at the petulant expression they shared.<p>

"I'm guessing Bruce hasn't given you a new costume yet?" Nightwing raised an eyebrow at the Robin that was Tim.

"What makes you think that he'll be the one to get a new costume?" Damian demanded, glaring at the other Robin.

"Because I've had more experience." Tim glared right back.

"Okay, that's enough Robin glaring for tonight." Nightwing rested a hand on both boys' shoulders and firmly pushed them apart. "Now, since we're all going on patrol tonight, I'll need some way of easily telling you two apart."

"Like the sour attitude emanating off of him won't be enough?" Tim crossed his arms, ignoring Nightwing's previous order to stop glaring.

"Tim, be nice." Nightwing warned, sifting through the Batcave's closet and finding a cloak that almost matched Robin's cape. "Eh, good enough." He pulled it out and draped it over Damian's shoulders.

"I look stupid." Damian grumbled, tugging at the cloak's gray hood.

"What's new?" Tim snarked, only to fall silent at Nightwing's glare. "Right, point taken, I'll behave."

"Good. Now, Damian you'll come with me on the Night Cycle, Robin-"

"Has finally got his own wheels!" Robin crowed, bounding over to the space beside the absent Batmobile and removing the gray tarp with a flourish to reveal the sleek red motorcycle underneath. "Batman finally caved and started to let me ride this thing, I even upgraded its computer and weapons system." Robin hugged the machine as one would a beloved dog.

"Don't get too excited over there." Nightwing laughed, mounting his own cycle he kept at the cave and pulling on a helmet. Damian gingerly situated himself behind the older superhero and accepted the spare helmet offered to him. "Hold on tight kid, ready over there Rob?" Nightwing asked as his motor roared into life.

"Born ready." Robin replied from beneath his own helmet before tearing out of the cave, letting out a mad cackle that made his older brother strangely proud.

* * *

><p>It was a mild night out, the air filled with the distant sounds of cars making their way to their destinations. Nightwing, for one, was glad for the change of pace. Back in Bludhaven, he'd be chasing after wailing sirens not five minutes into his patrol. As it was, he was situated comfortably atop a six story office building with Robin beside him and Damian on a ledge a couple of floors beneath them. Antisocial kid that he was.<p>

Understanding Damian was not as hard as the kid probably thought it was, at least, not for someone who grew up with a semi-permanently emotionally oppressed man. Where Tim couldn't find it in himself to relate to his younger brother, Dick could see the lost boy that they all had been at some point inside Damian. Damian's issues, however, would have to wait until Tim was dealt with.

Nightwing sat in a half crouch, masked eyes silently watching the city below while Robin mirrored him, cape flowing gently in the wind behind them. Glancing at his second mentor's unusual silence, Robin gave a soft sigh of resignation.

"You're going to have your say, and I'm going to have mine." Robin said finally, noting the slight tilt of Nightwing's head to signal that he was listening. "So we might as well get it over with." Robin turned so that he was now sitting cross-legged facing the older hero.

Nightwing maintained his thoughtful silence for several long moments, eyes never leaving the still busy streets below them. Robin could take the wait though, he was used to it by now after going for hours on end with nothing but Batman's silence for company. Tilting his head down, Nightwing could just make out the tuft of black hair that was Damian sitting stonily on the ledge below. Yes, that kid definitely spelled trouble, but he was their trouble he supposed.

"He's not going to replace us, in Batman's mind or Bruce's heart. You know that don't you?" Nightwing finally asked, quietly and slowly, eyes still watching the young boy as he shifted positions.

"Could have fooled me, the way he prances around like he's entitled to whatever he wants. It just...really makes me mad. I mean, it's not like Bruce raised him, he didn't even know he _existed_ until recently. And yet here he is, in the manor and in our lives like he just belongs there." Robin, if he had the ability, would have killed Damian by this point with the glares he was sending towards the unsuspecting boy.

"He does belong here. He has the right to know who his father is." Nightwing pointed out, making Robin hang his head a bit in grudging agreement under his brother's covered gaze. Seeing that his point was finally getting through, Nightwing allowed his strict posture to relax a bit. "He belongs here Robin, just as you and I always will." Here Nightwing pulled the younger teen into a one-armed hug, feeling some of the tension in Robin's body ease at the contact.

"It's just that, he's actually Bruce's _son_. As in, flesh and blood, unbreakable bond sort of thing." Robin, despite his assertions that he was more than mature, still had his moments of child-like insecurity. As he absently fiddled with the edge of his cape, Nightwing couldn't help but smile as the image of a younger Tim snuggled in his lap came to mind.

"I think, after everything we've gone through with that ol' man of ours, that we might as well be flesh and blood as well, maybe even something closer." Nightwing suddenly became serious again as he looked off to the darkened sky. "We've argued over some pretty stupid things before, and more than once I've thought about how I could just walk away from it all and be done with it, with him. But he's my dad, whether I like it or not. Because that's what he's become to me throughout the years, not just my father but my dad. I could never walk away from that, and I know he couldn't either."

Robin watched the lines of Nightwing's mouth tighten slightly and then relax throughout his speech. Feeling he was witnessing something personal, Robin turned away to give his brother some privacy, instead looking down to what he supposed was his younger brother.

"But you two have been together for years, I still count as green, more easy to replace."

"Robin, Batman would never replace you." Nightwing said firmly, eyes snapping back to the body beside him.

"How do you know? He replaced you." Robin looked up to meet Nightwing's eyes head on. Sensing the anger even through the mask, Nightwing forced himself to back down from the confrontation Robin seemed determined to have.

"He replaced who fought beside him as Robin, but he never replaced me. I moved on, outgrew the role that Robin had. I was ready to go out on my own, but Batman still needed Robin. So he got another Robin. He did not, however, ever get another Richard Grayson. He wouldn't be able to find one if he tried, thankfully. Can you imagine two of me's running around?"

Despite himself, Robin let out a small laugh. "Stop that, I'm trying to be serious here."

"What I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't worry about Damian, or anyone else, replacing you. There's only one you, and that's the way it should be. Besides, I've always thought of Bruce's heart as a manor in it's own right. Big and cavernous, unexplored sections left and right, sometimes lonely, but always with enough room for everyone he feels like letting in." Nightwing gave the younger bird a smile, inwardly elated when the smile was sincerely returned.

"Yeah, that man just doesn't know when to quit adopting us." Robin laughed.

"Lucky for us, huh? Now, since you're no longer fearing that Damian's going to kick you out of the cave, do you think you could be a bit more civil to him?" Nightwing asked, tilting Robin's chin so that masked eyes met masked eyes.

"Yeah, I suppose. After all, he's family right?" Robin sighed, smile still in place.

"He's family." Nightwing nodded in agreement. "Isn't that right, Damian?" He called down, knowing full well that the little demon had been listening throughout the entire conversation.

"Whatever." Damian's surly voice floated up, causing Robin to laugh harder.

* * *

><p>"Hey Dick?" Tim looked up from changing into his pajamas from his Robin costume.<p>

"What's up kid?" Dick asked, neatly folding his Nightwing outfit before placing it back into his messenger bag.

"How did you know that you were ready to become something bigger than Robin?" Tim asked, hopping up onto the medical table to watch his brother search for a sleeping shirt. Dick paused, dark blue shirt in hand, to think about that one.

"I don't know. One day I just, knew. I'd been Robin for several years and one day just felt it on the inside that I was ready for something more. So I became Nightwing, got my own city to watch, distanced myself a bit from dad, all the normal stuff kids do when they're leaving home." Dick shrugged nonchalantly, pulling his shirt over his head before tossing Tim his Robin mask that had been left on the floor.

"Do you think I'll be ready someday?" Tim asked uncertainly, fingers deftly plucking his mask out of the air before starting to fiddle with it.

Walking over to stand right in front of his younger brother, the table making it so that they were nearly eye to eye, Dick took a good long look at the young boy who'd taken his old identity. Rather than the normal hostility and resentment that Dick had anticipated feeling towards whoever took up his old suit, from the moment Dick met Tim he knew that Tim would become an integral part of both Dick's and Bruce's lives. From that day onwards, Dick never once regretted bringing Tim into the family.

"You know what? I think you just might be." Dick grinned, ruffling Tim's hair before moving away again to finish packing up his Nightwing gear. "So, you all good with the whole Damian situation now?" He asked, straightening up and slinging his bag over a shoulder.

"Yeah, totally." Tim replied, hopping off the table to follow his brother up the stairs to the manor. "Matter of fact, I sort of feel luckier than him." Tim paused on the stairs and turned around to look at Dick thoughtfully.

"Really? How so?"

"Well, we both came here because we wanted to and Bruce wanted us here, Damian came because he and Bruce felt some kind of obligation to get to know each other. If you look at it that way, I'd say us adopted kids are the lucky ones." Tim explained, smiling happily at Dick's surprised laugh.

"Come on you little imp," Dick grabbed Tim around the middle, tossing him over a shoulder before continuing up the stairs with the giggling teen.

In passing through the kitchen, Alfred and Damian looked up when they heard Tim's uncontrolled laughter. Taking in the sight his siblings made, Damian rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Real mature you gu - hey!" Damian cried out in miffed indignation as Dick grabbed him off his stool and slung him over the shoulder Tim was not occupying. "Put me down you immature cretin!"

"Tempting, but no. You're part of the family kid, and as such get treated like it." Dick let out a cackle as he headed towards the living room.

Listening to his boys' mingled voices fading down the corridor, Alfred smiled to himself as he continued wiping down the counter.

* * *

><p>Coming through the manor door a few days later, weary but content, Bruce paused to marvel that the place was still standing. He'd sort of expected the place to be in shambles after leaving his two at home sons by themselves, and yet it appeared as if nothing was out of place.<p>

Checking his watch, Bruce noted how late it was and figured that everyone was in bed already, as the only light in view was a table lamp by the staircase and the manor was as silent as the Batcave. Securing his carry-on bag on his shoulder and duffle in hand, Bruce made to head up the stairs but stopped short when he caught sight of a crack of light coming from under the family room door.

Setting his bags down by the stairs, Bruce moved silently towards the door and cracked it open. The sight within the room was enough to make the Dark Knight's heart warm as a fond smile made its way onto his lips. Sprawled on his stomach, fast asleep on the plushy sofa, was Dick. Cuddled snugly on his back were Tim and Damian, a twisted blanket half covering each of them as if they'd been fighting over it when sleep finally overtook them.

Chuckling silently to himself, Bruce entered the room to sort out his sons' sleeping positions. Moving their sleep pliant bodies so that they were more secure on their human mattress and covering them properly, Bruce paused to ruffle their hair before turning to his oldest. It had been a while since Bruce had seen Dick outside of costume.

Brushing dark bangs out of closed eyes, Bruce couldn't help but reflect on how large his family of one had become over his years as Batman. It seemed that in ridding himself of his guilt through Batman, Bruce had also managed to somehow build himself back up again through the often underestimated love of children.

"You owe me." A groggy voice interrupted Bruce's musings, making him look down into a half open blue eye looking sleepily up at him. "Those two," Dick gently rolled a shoulder to indicate the boys on his back, "actually tolerate each other now. You're welcome."

"Knew you'd be able to do it." Bruce smiled, getting a wry grin in return. "Get some sleep kid, you deserve it." He gave his oldest son's forehead a kiss before reaching over to switch off the light. "Love you son."

"Love you too dad."


End file.
